For Valhalla Partners, "I" in IPTV Means "Invest"

VC Firm Injects D.C.-Area Online-Video Start-Ups Avail, KZO Innovations and TidalTV With Growth Capital

VIENNA, VA — Signaling the D.C.-area’s growing contribution to, and opportunity in, the global market for online-video solutions, Valhalla Partners today announced it has made three significant investments in area start-ups in the last three months. Valhalla Partners has taken a lead-investor role in the early-round funding events of Avail Media, Inc. of Reston Va., KZO Innovations of Herndon, Va., and TidalTV of Baltimore, Md. Along with providing transformative funding, Valhalla Partners acts as a strategic counselor for these firms. Valhalla is continuing to identify — and invest in — additional opportunities in the IPTV sector.

“Whether you want to call it evolution or revolution, online video is rapidly moving mainstream. IPTV will transform how we experience digital media for years to come,” said Art Marks, General Partner, Valhalla Partners. “There are countless opportunities for online-video innovation, but our companies need to manage efficiently, grow intelligently, and navigate wisely — and that’s where our experience comes in. We like what we see in Avail, KZO and TidalTV — from their technology to their talent to their management teams — and that excitement carries over to our view that the D.C.-area is likely to play a strategic role in shaping the IPTV market.”

To date, Valhalla Partners has invested more than $13M in Avail, KZO Innovations and TidalTV to further accelerate R&D, expand sales and marketing, and attract additional talent More on these firms follows:

Avail Media (www.availmedia.com) is the only company today to deliver both a linear TV and a Video On Demand (VOD) IPTV solution. It delivers to its customers a full line-up of live television programming with hundreds of channels, all quality encoded in MPEG-4, IP encapsulated, encrypted, combined with VOD and designed for future value-added services. Avail Media’s system has been designed for use by broadband network operators of all types. Whether triple-play, quad-play, or pure video play, Avail Media offers the broadest and deepest set of IPTV services, technologies and solutions available in the marketplace today.

KZO Innovations (www.kzoinnovations.com) markets innovative streaming video technologies to the commercial sector. Its initial product is a cutting-edge video-delivery platform which allows customization for adding dynamic and interactive features. It has incorporated proprietary digital tools and online collaboration modules into a unique e-Learning platform for higher education. There are numerous additional applications for this technology including corporate training and communications.

TidalTV (www.tidaltv.com) is a broadband television platform featuring the best in professionally produced, branded programming. The TidalTV experience is designed to complement and enhance traditional television viewing through its unique combination of programmed and on-demand video with DVR-style controls. There is no application to download, no waiting for videos to load and no fees to pay — TidalTV provides its audience with a high-quality viewing experience that, like TV, is always on.